Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Here's a couple of new brooches; Habitat and Nest. My very favorite one, Night Magic, sold yesterday. Habitat is currently my favorite now and it will be hard to part with this one. Nest includes bits like spider web, cellophane, grasses and a length of rhinestones from a wren nest found at The Crooked Little House. (The rhinestones were my addition.) When I clean out the bird houses at the end of the year, I save the nests because I love looking at all the inclusions.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Lately I've had lots of visitors at The Crooked Little House. I spent part of yesterday morning sketching outside and painting a plein air cloudscape as well as watching all the action going on in the bushes and vines and trees. I had butterflies, fly catchers, bees, spiders, and my cardinal for company.

This red boy spent quite a bit of time bouncing along the fence so I decided to stop painting for awhile and ran inside to grab my camera. I can always use more reference pics of cardinals. I snapped a couple of shots then went back to painting.

When I loaded the images onto the computer, I noticed what I had captured. This poor little mantis didn't pray hard enough I guess since he ended up being brunch. I love praying mantis but I also love birds. Everyone must feed so it's the way of nature. And I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise since I myself like a good burger from time to time.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

When an interesting sky appears, I drop everything and head outside. The first thing I noticed to the SW was the lines and edges around pregnant forms. But when I turned to check out the NW sky, it turned into a double feature. I could hear the phone ringing and the cats crying but nothing interferes when the sky, and I, are on a roll. These were done between 7:45 pm and 8:20 pm on July 21, 2015.

You can see where I laid a pencil line so I can use this as a background for one of my birds for another upcoming show I booked two days ago. I must be crazy trying to put another show together in a month. But I've been invited to be part of a group show at one of my favorite places; Slyvan Heights Bird Park, and there's no way I'm passing this up. If you ever get the chance, you must go for a visit and walk among birds from all over the world. You even get to feed the flamingos and budgies! Here's their link: http://shwpark.com/

Sunday, July 19, 2015

I have a lot of new ventures going on this year. It's now time to begin preparing for the fall shows. I have four big ones ahead of me. In an effort to offer something new and exciting, I developed my line of "Between Heaven and Earth" which includes original paintings, cards, book marks and a line of brooches using bits and pieces of vintage jewelry. I feel the market can become saturated at times with our work and it's important to be flexible and offer a fresh look if you want to continue to acquire new clients and delight the ones you already have.

This is a new segment from that line using vintage watches. This one will be put back into its casing and incorporated into a brooch at some point. It has pieces of egg shells I have found in my year (the blue is robin; not sure what the speckled one is.) There is a vintage cross and pearl, a piece of a feather and even an old piece of text from a falling-apart bible from 1862. (I already made one for myself!)

A Wing and a Prayer Copyright E.M. Corsa 2015

To see my brooches that are currently available for purchase, please visit: emcorsawings.blogspot.com

Friday, July 17, 2015

These are my newest brooches and I wanted to share a couple of tidbits about them.

"Over the Rainbow" incorporates a vintage View Master reel. If you hold it up to the light and look through the hole in the center, I've arranged it so the film shows through highlighting a pic of the moon. I added a bale to the piece so it can also be worn as a pendant and looked at easily.

My other brooch, "Relic" has a piece of compressed glass from ancient Rome! How cool is that?

Hope you like them. To see all available brooches, please visit: emcorsawings.blogspot.com
For more info, contact me at: ofcorsa3@gmail.com

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Primarily a Catholic ritual, the Blessing of the Fleet is a part of our island life. We basically have two industries; tourism and commercial fishing. So I wanted to pay tribute to the fishermen by creating this brooch titled, Blessing of the Fleet.

I have used a religious medal, vintage fish and naval button along with a section of rosary beads. The rosary beads were from when I was a little girl so I only use a little bit when a special touch is called for. It's my way of offering a blessing of my own.

Monday, July 13, 2015

Throughout my career, I've been so fortunate to work with wonderful, creative individuals and companies. One of my favorites is Creative Co-op. I'd like to share some pics of the newly released holiday line they have produced using my bird images. They were a pleasure to work with and I'm looking forward to a long relationship with this company.

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Tomorrow evening is a big event on our little island; the Annual Nags Head Roll and Stroll.

The town of Nags Head, in an effort to promote our marvelous art community, began this event a few years ago. It encourages the tourists and locals alike to get out and tour all the wonderful galleries where they can visit with working artists, listen to poetry, enjoy refreshments and perhaps make a purchase to take home with them. I'll be demonstrating my illuminated letters at Yellowhouse Gallery. I've gone ahead and sketched out a dozen or so ahead of time and will bring them to life with paint, tomorrow evening.

I love events like this, bringing art lovers together on a beautiful summer evening.

Monday, July 6, 2015

When I was at Alligator River a couple of weeks ago, I was gifted with two sightings; one, a hummingbird and two, a Blue Grosbeak. I have only seen a Blue Grosbeak a couple of times in my life so this was quite special for me.

I've done a couple of versions of both of these based on my sketches and photographs; some miniatures and some 8 x 10s.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Part of being an artist is experimentation. And because my weakness is vintage costume jewelry, I've been working with bits and pieces that are in disrepair. After making some pieces for myself, I decided to create a line to go with my Between Heaven and Earth series. They will be available at all my fall shows along with miniature bird paintings, cards and illustrated letters.

Here's a few pics of some of my one-of-a-kind new/old brooches. Hope you like them. For additional information, please contact me at: ofcorsa3@gmail.com

About Me

My life is intricately entwined with nature; learning gratitude for a wren's song, patience waiting for a snake to cross the road and compassion for a wasp that has drowned in the birdbath.
I paint what I know best, and my favorite subjects are those that make their home at The Crooked Little House or wander the marshes and beaches on my barrier island.
All artwork is protected by copyright so please, do not reproduce anything from this site without permission. Contact me at: ofcorsa3@gmail.com
Follow me here: facebook.com/emcorsa
and visit my Etsy shop here: etsy.com/shop/EMCorsaArtShop